Who doesn’t love a cheeseburger?  Monty Python sought the holy grail, I seek the holy cheeseburger.  When someone has a billboard that says “Best Burger in Arkansas” I am all in.  But, to quote Vincent Vega, “That’s a bold statement.”  CJ’s Butcher Boy, however, may just deliver on such a statement.  The outside of the building says much about what you can expect upon entering CJ’s in Russellville, Arkansas:

There are four items on the menu.  You can have a 1/3 pound burger served two ways, a la carte, or in a basket with fries.  You can have a 2/3 pound burger (a double) served two ways, a la carte, or in a basket with fries.  That’s it.  That’s the menu.  You can, however, choose from a multitude of toppings.  I prefer cheese, lettuce, mustard, bacon, grilled onions, pickles and grilled mushrooms.

Is it the best cheeseburger in Arkansas?  It may be, but that is an awfully difficult term to define.  Does there have to be just one?  I personally think there are different categories of that most American of institutions, the cheeseburger.  Sometimes I’m in the mood for classic.  Sometimes I’m in the mood for gourmet.  (I once had a burger in New York City made of wagyu beef, stuffed with foie gras, blue cheese and served with a glass of Turley’s Red Zinfandel).  The CJ burger is a classic.  They grind their own beef shoulder daily and the burgers are cooked on the standard flat-top.  The jukebox roars in the fifties diner atmosphere and the burger is tantamount to a religious experience.

So in answer to the ultimate question, Is it the best?  You’ll have to try one and make that decision for yourself.  I prefer to think that I have yet to find the best burger.  As you may know from my post Way Off Broadway, I believe that the journey is as important as the destination.  So I will keep trying to find the Holy Grail of burgers.

What are your favorite burgers?